I found the Marin County Free Library's blog to be a notable library blog. It has a lot of great features, but a few minor annoyances. Marin County is located in California, north of San Francisco.
The good:
The good:
- Comprehensive information about a variety of programs and activities. Over the course of a few weeks, there are postings about a "henna party" for teens, a puppet show for children, and a poetry reading for adults. A few posts are in-house plugs for library cards, and an FAQ site, but most of the posts are about events happening in the various county libraries. Many of the summer posts were about teen activities. Assuming that many of the library's teenage patrons use the internet and are familiar with the blog, this is a great way to advertise. There is a teen page, part of the library's website, but it isn't as up-to-date as the blog.
- User-friendliness. The blog is easy to read, with muted colors and a basic font. A column on the right displays links to other parts of the library's website, along with direct links to recent posts and archives. It isn't intended for one specific age group; rather, it appeals to all ages.
- Frequency of posts. New posts appear several times a week, and the blog is archived monthly to October 2003. The posts are all substantial and feature pictures and comprehensible information about various activities.
- Chat? There is a link to "Ask a Librarian," which eventually leads to a site called Ask Now. Essentially, the user's question may be answered by any librarian, anywhere in the U.S. Great for providing 24-hour service, but not so great if a user has a question that is specific to the Marin County Library. Additionally, the chat interface requires that you give your name and town (and requests your email, local library branch and zip code), and looks more like a web-based email form than an actual chat window. Once you get in the chat, it looks more like a regular chat screen, but it's full screen and can't be minimized.
- Internal navigation. Most blogs have links at the bottom which take you to older or newer posts - this one doesn't. Instead, you must navigate to older posts using the Archives links. The heading picture is static, unlike many websites which use the logo or header as a link back to the main page. To internally navigate from an archive page to the main page, you have to use the browser's back button. Also, posts aren't tagged, and there is no search feature on the blog, making it difficult to search for a specific post.
3 comments:
I agree with your appraisal of this blog. I think it may be a little understated and could use a design overhaul, but is good for what it is. I think the chat feature should also be fixed and should relate to the host librarian, etc. So there. Also, I posted my last post about 17 times because I didn't realize you had a privacy dealio on your blog, beware!
RE: "privacy dealio" - yeah, I didn't realize that either. It's changed now.
This is a good example of a "newsletter-ish" type of library blog. As you mentioned, it's a great source for those who use the internet (and a great way to introduce patrons who are not familiar with blogs to them!)
I agree that tags and a search function would make it much more user-friendly.
As for the "Ask Now" chat reference link, I think it's a great service (perhaps I'm a bit biased as I've actually helped California's Ask Now patrons when helping to staff NJ's statewide chat reference service, Q&ANJ!), but it may be misleading. Marin County should specify that it's to be used for reference questions when the library is closed. And, it would be nice if they started IM reference service within their own library and added a meebo me widget to their blog. They could even set the unavailable message on meebo to read something like, "Marin County Free Library is closed. Any reference questions can be handled by Ask Now" (or something like that but less wordy!)
Post a Comment